Data specifications

Cancer deaths

Definition: Age-standardized mortality rates per 100,000 population died from the specified cancer sites

Rationale for measurement: Data and metrics regarding age-standardized mortality rates are needed to provide an accurate measure of the burden of disease across Canada.

Measurement timeframe: Years 1992 to 2014

Denominator: Canadian population estimates by year, sex and age group

Numerator: Number of deaths in the measure timeframe from the specified cancers

Exclusion criteria: For breast cancer, males were excluded

Data availability: All provinces and territories

Stratification:

By cancer site: prostate, lung, breast (female), colorectal

By sex if applicable

By year

Data sources: Statistics Canada, Vital Statistics Death Database

Data retrieval date: December 2017

Variables details:

Up to the year 1999, the cause of deaths from invasive cancer sites/types were defined in ICD-9:

Prostate: 185

Lung: 162

Breast (female): 174

Colorectal: 153-154

After the year 1999, the cause of deaths from invasive cancer sites/types were defined in ICD-10:

Prostate: C61.9

Lung: C34

Breast: C50

Colorectal: C18, C19.9, C20.9, C26.0

Notes from jurisdictions: Not applicable

Methodology notes:

Data presented were jurisdictions combined for ages 0+.

The cause of death from cancer sites/types were classified by World Health Organization, International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Up to the year 1999, the Ninth Edition (ICD-9) was used. After the year 1999, the Tenth Edition (ICD-10) was used.

Mortality rates were age standardized to the Canadian 2011 population using direct method.

Changes to definition compared to previous years: Not applicable

Cancer incidence

Definition: Age-standardized incidence rates per 100,000 population diagnosed for the specified cancer sites

Rationale for measurement: Data and metrics regarding age-standardized incidence rates and trends are needed to provide an accurate measure of the burden of disease across Canada.

Measurement timeframe: Years 1992 to 2013

Denominator: Canadian population estimates by year, sex and age group

Numerator: Number of new invasive cases for the specified cancers diagnosed in the measure timeframe

Exclusion criteria: For breast cancer, males were excluded

Data availability: Data were aggregated at national level:

All provinces and territories, except QC which 2010 data have been copied forward to 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The cancer incidence sites/types were classified by World Health Organization, International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, Third Edition (ICD- O-3). The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) rules were used for determining multiple primaries sites.

QC incidence data were not available for 2011 onward, incidence cases and population data in 2010 were copied forward to 2011, 2012 and 2013

Incidence rates were age standardized to the Canadian 2011 population using direct method.